Sports Editor

The Fayette County Lady Tigers Soccer team is off to an

impressive 3-0 start. The Lady Tigers manhandled Lovejoy in

their first game and then pounded the net against Stockbridge last

Tuesday. Fayette County scored 15 goals in 30 minutes against

the Tigers of Stockbridge. The first goal came 18 seconds into

the game when sophomore Rachel Frazier flicked a ball towards

the back post and sophomore Crystal Rene DeCotret finished it

off. Fayette's Mandy Kovach scored a minute after that on a cross

from junior Dana Teat. Kovach finished with four goals and an

assist. Two minutes after that senior captain Diana Chang scored on

a shot from outside the 18. Every member of the Fayette

County team scored a goal or recorded an assist. The game was stopped

before halftime due to the GHSA Mercy Rule.

There was no mercy in thei game against LaGrange on

Friday night though. The Lady Tigers scored in the first minute of

the game off a headball by Mandy Kovach. The Lady Grangers

then began playing very physically and did not get penalized."I

have never seen so many late hits and blatant arm tackles in my

life," said Coach Kouns. At the half, the team discussed ways

around LaGrange's physical play and decided the only way to stop

it was to dish it out themselves. The LadyTigers did just that and

Dana Teat scored within the first four minutes of the second

half. Mandy Kovach got her ninth goal of the season just minutes

afterwards. Diana Chang scored off of a penalty shot, Nikki

Senese scored from way out on what Kouns called "a wonderful

goal,", and sophomore Crystal Rene DeCotret scored a goal off an

assist from Diana Chang. Coach Kouns singled out Amanda

Wix, Amy Eller, Kelly Braziel and Megan Stewart for solid play.

The Lady Tigers will host Upson-Lee on Friday night at 7 p.m.

The Fayette County boys soccer team improved their record

to 3-0 on a very cold night in Stockbridge last week. Like

the postal service, the sleet and cold could not stop the Tigers

from standing their ground. Fayette County felt pretty confident

when they found themselves leading 3-0 before the half but

stockbridge swiped the ball away and scored a goal for themselves as the

half expired. David Derring scored two goals for Fayette

County while Derek Walton and Nic Westerman each chipped in

one. Walton and Westerman each had an assist as well, as did

Brent Turner and Trevor Bowman.

Fayette County outshot the Tigers of Stockbridge 13-9.

J.B. Wood played in net the entire game while back up

keeper Jonathan Williams played in the field. The Fayette County

boys soccer team faced LaGrange on Friday. The Tigers put all sorts

of pressure on LaGrange, taking 24 shots overall and forcing

the Grangers to take 19 goal kicks during the game.

LaGrange played some solid defense but suffered a letdown with six

minutes remaining in the first half. Brent Turner nailed a

terrific header into the net off of an assist by Trevor Bowman.

Turner now leads the Tigers in goal scoring, while Bowman leads

the team in assists. Fayette County won by a score of 1-0 and

improved their record to 4-0.

The Starr's Mill Lady Panther soccer team faced yet another

famous high school soccer program on Friday when they

hosted Marist. The first game jitters were out of the way for Starr's Mill

and the freshmen played more aggressively. The Lady Panthers

outshot Marist 11-0 in the first half and led by a score of 3-0. All

three goals came from freshman Allison Graham. Graham

scored all three of her goals in the span of 11 minutes. Kacy

Murray, Alice Martin and Janet Burke each had an assist. Marist

got more aggressive in the second half and took four shots at

the Starr's Mill goal. It was not enough however. Starr's

Mill took seven more shots in the second half and scored off of one

of those chances. Cathryn Slasinski scored late in the second half

of of Janet Burke's second assist in the game. Starr's Mill traveled

to play Westminster on Tuesday. The Tigers will open the

Cougar Soccer Classic at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday against

Gadsden.The game will be at Whitlock Soccer Park in Newnan.

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